William Aytoun
| birth_place = 21 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh | death_date = August | death_place = Blackhills, by Lhanbryde, Moray | resting_place = Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh | occupation = Writer to the Signet (1835) Advocate (1840) Professor of Rhetoric and Lettres, [[Edinburgh University] (1845-65) Sheriff, Orkney & Shetland (1852-65) | language = | nationality = Scottish | ethnicity = | citizenship = United Kingdom | education = Edinburgh Academy (1824-1828) | alma_mater = Edinburgh University | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = Lays of The Scottish Cavaliers (1848) | spouse = 1st Jane Emily Wilson (d. 1859) 2nd Fearnie Jemima Kinnear (m. 1863) (d. 1904) | partner = | children = No issue | relatives = Father-in-law: Professor John Wilson Brother-in-law: John Thomson Gordon | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | portaldisp = }} William Edmondstoune Aytoun FRSE (21 June 1813 - 4 August 1865) was a Scottish poet, lawyer, and academic. Life Overview Aytoun, son of Roger Aytoun, a Writer to the Signet, was born in Edinburgh and educated there, and was brought up to the law, which, however, as he said, he "followed but could never overtake." He became a contributor to Blackwood's Magazine in 1836, and continued his connection with it until his death. In it appeared most of his humorous prose pieces, such as "The Glenmutchkin Railway," "How I Became a Yeoman," and "How I Stood for the Dreepdaily Burghs," all full of vigorous fun. In the same pages began to appear his chief poetical work, the "Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers," and a novel, partly autobiographical, Norman Sinclair. Other works were The Bon Gaultier Ballads, jointly with Theodore Martin, and Firmilian, a Spasmodic Tragedy, under the nom-de-plume of T. Percy Jones, intended to satirise a group of poets and critics, including Gilfillan, Dobell, Bailey, and Alexander Smith. In 1845 Aytoun obtained the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in Edinburgh University, which he filled with great success, raising the attendance from 30 to 150, and in 1852 he was appointed sheriff of Orkney and Shetland. He was married to a daughter of Professor Wilson (Christopher North).John William Cousin, "Aytoun, William Edmonstone," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910, 17. Web, Nov. 25, 2017. Youth and family Aytoun was born in Edinburgh, the son of Joan (Keir) and Roger Aytoun, writer to the signet. Through both father and mother he belonged to old Scottish families. Among his ancestors he counted poet Sir Robert Aytoun, buried in Westminster Abbey. Both Aytoun's parents were of literary tastes; and by his mother he was early imbued with a passion for ballad poetry and an imaginative sympathy for the royal race of Stuart. She had seen much of Sir Walter Scott in his boyhood and youth, and supplied his biographer Lockhart with many of the details for his life of Scott. Her knowledge of ballad lore was great, and was very serviceable in enabling her son to fill up gaps, and to correct false readings when preparing his edition of the Ballads of Scotland in 1858.Martin, 302. Aytoun was educated at the Edinburgh academy and university, and wrote verses fluently and well while still a student. At the age of 17 he published a small volume called Poland, Homer, and other poems, in which the qualities of his later style were already apparent. He thought of going to the English bar, but after a winter in London, attending the courts of law, he abandoned this intention. Aytoun disliked the idea of following his father's profession, but after a residence of some months at Aschaffenburg, where he devoted himself with enthusiasm to the study of German literature, he returned to Edinburgh. Career Having no fortune, he put aside the thought of devoting himself to literary pursuits, resumed his place in his father's office, and was admitted as a writer of the signet in 1835. The discipline of his legal practice was of great use in giving him a power of mastering the details of political and other questions which was of distinct service to him at a later period. In 1840 he was called to the Scottish bar, which had more attraction for him than the irksome monotony of a solicitor's practice, and made a fair position for himself there during the years in which he remained in active practice. His heart, however, was in literary pursuits, and he had already begun to feel his way in them by translations from Uhland, Homer, and others, as well as in original poems, which appeared in Blackwood's Magazine during the years from 1836 to 1840. Between that period and 1844 he worked together with Sir Theodore Martin in the production of what are known as the Bon Gaultier Ballads, which acquired such great popularity that 13 large editions of them were called for between 1855 and 1877. They were also associated at this time in writing many prose magazine articles of a humorous character, as well as a series of translations of Goethe's ballads and minor poems, which, after appearing in Blackwood's Magazine, were some years afterwards (1858) collected and published in book form. It was during this period that Aytoun began to write the series of ballads known as Lays of the Cavaliers, which first drew attention to him as an original poet, and which have taken so firm a hold of the public that no less than 29 editions of them have appeared, 11 of them since Aytoun's death in 1865. In 1844 he became one of the staff of Blackwood's, to which he continued till his death to contribute political and other articles on a great variety of subjects with unflagging industry and a remarkable fertility and variety of resource. Among these were several tales, in which Aytoun's humour and shrewd practical sense were conspicuous. Of these perhaps the most amusing were "My First Spec in the Biggleswades," and "How we got up the Glenmutchkin Railway, and how we got out of it;" and they had a most salutary effect in exposing the rascality and folly of the railway mania of 1845. People laughed, but they profited — for a time — by the lessons there read to them. Academic and sheriff In 1845 Aytoun was appointed professor of rhetoric and belles lettres at Edinburgh University. Here he was in his element; and he made his lectures so attractive that he raised the number of students from 30 in 1846 to upwards of 1,850 in 1864. His professorial duties did not interfere with his position at the bar, and in 1852, when the tory party came into power, they requited his services as a political writer by appointing him sheriff of Orkney.Martin, 303. The duties of Aytoun's sheriffship did not engross much of his time. These, and his work as professor, both most conscientiously discharged, left him leisure for literary work. In 1854 he produced the dramatic poem Firmilian, perhaps the most brilliant of his works, which was written in ridicule of the extravagant themes and style of Bailey, Dobell, and Alexander Smith. It was, however, so full of imagination and fine rhythmical swing, that its object was mistaken, and what was meant for caricature was accepted as serious poetry. In 1856 Aytoun published Bothwell, a poetical monologue, dealing with the relations between the hero and Mary Queen of Scots. It contained many fine passages, and 3 editions of it were published. In 1858 he published a collection, in 2 volumes, of the Ballads of Scotland, carefully collated and annotated, of which 4 editions had been published by 1860. In 1861 his novel of Norman Sinclair was published; it had already appeared in Blackwood's Magazine, and is interesting for its pictures of society in Scotland, as Aytoun saw it in his youth, and for many passages which are, in fact, autobiographical. Last years About this time Aytoun's health began to fail, and his spirits had sustained a shock, from which he never wholly recovered, in the death on 15 April 1859 of his wife, the youngest daughter of Professor Wilson (Christopher North), whom he had married in April 1849, and to whom he was devotedly attached. He sought relief in hard work, but life had thenceforth lost much of its zest for him. Being childless, its loneliness became intolerable, and in December 1863 he married again. But by this time his constitution was seriously shaken, and on 4 August 1865 he died at Blackhills, near Elgin, where he had gone to spend the summer in the hope of restoring his health. Aytoun's life had been, upon the whole, a happy one. He was of a genial, kindly disposition, full of playfulness, and of original and cultured humour, warmly esteemed by his friends, and constant in his attachments to them. Writing Nature and education fitted Aytoun for a man of letters, and he took delight in the very varied literary labours by which his free and facile pen enriched the pages of Blackwood's, and added a few books to literature of permanent interest. His published works are:—1. ‘Poland, Homer, and other Poems,’ Edinburgh, 1832. 2. ‘The Life and Times of Richard the First,’ London, 1840. 3. ‘Lays of the Cavaliers,’ Edinburgh, 1848, 29th edition 1883. 4. ‘Bon Gaultier's Ballads’ (jointly with Theodore Martin), London, 1855, 13th edition 1877. 5. ‘Bothwell,’ London, 1856. 6. ‘Firmilian,’ 1854. 7. ‘Poems and Ballads of Goethe’ (jointly with Theodore Martin), London, 1858. 8. ‘Ballads of Scotland,’ 2 vols. London, 1858, 4th edition 1870. 9. ‘Nuptial Ode to the Princess Alexandra,’ London, 1863. 10. ‘Norman Sinclair,’ 3 vols. London, 1861. Recognition In 1853 Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of D.C.L. Publications Poetry *''Poland, Homer, and other poems. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, 1832. * ''Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and other poems. 1849. **Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1863. **Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1886.Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and other poems (1886), Internet Archive. Web, June 29, 2013. **London: Bliss Sands & Co., 1896.Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and other poems, Project Gutenberg. Web, June 29, 2013. *''Bothwell: A poem in six parts. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1858.Bothwell: A poem in six parts (1858), Internet Archive. Web, June 29, 2013. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1858. *Nuptial Ode on the Marriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1863. *The Heart of the Bruce. New York: J.B. Alden, 1883. *Charles Edward at Versailles. Leeds, UK: A. Pedley / London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1895? w *''The Burial-March of Dundee and The Island of the Scots. London: 1897. *''Poems of William Edmonstoun Aytoun. London: Humphrey Milford / New York: Oxford University Press, 1921. *''Aytoun's Lays: Edinburgh after Flodden, The burial march of Dundee, and The island of the Scots. London: Macmillan, 1926. Plays *''Firmilian, or The student of Badajoz: A 'spasmodic' tragedy'' (as "T. Percy Jones"). Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1854; New York: Redfield, 1854. Fiction *''Norman Sinclair''. (3 volumes), Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1861. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III *''The Glenmutchkin Railway by Professor Aytoun, and other tales''. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1868. ** published as The Glenmutchkin Railway and other humorous Scots stories. London: George Routledge / New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907. Non-fiction *''The Drummon Schism Examined and Exposed''. Edinburgh: R. Grant, 1842. *''The Life and Times of Richard the First, surnamed Coeur-de-Lion, King of England. London: W. Tegg, 1840. Collected editions *''Stories and Verse (with introduction by W.L. Renwick). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1964. Edited * 'The Book of Ballads (edited with Theodore Martin, as "Bon Gaultier"). London: William S. Orr, 1845.The Book of Ballads (1845), Internet Archive. Web, June 29, 2013. **New York: Redfield, 1852.The Book of Ballads (1852), Internet Archive. Web, June 29, 2013. **Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1904. *''The Ballads of Scotland''. (2 volumes), Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1858. Volume I, Volume II. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:William Aytoun, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, June 29, 2013. See also * List of British poets References * . Wikisource, Web, Nov. 25, 2017. * Rosaline Masson, Pollock and Aytoun. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, 1898, ("Famous Scots Series") Notes External links ;Poems *William Edmondstoune Aytoun (1813 - 1865) at the Scottish Poetry Library ("The Burial March of Dundee") * Aytoun, William Edmonstoune at Representative Poetry Online (2 poems) *Aytoun in A Victorian Anthology:: "The Execution of Montrose," "Massacre of the MacPherson" * William Edmonstoune Aytoun at PoemHunter (19 poems) ;Books * ;About *William Edmonstoune Aytoun in the Encyclopædia Britannica * Aytoun, William Edmonstoune Category:Scottish poets Category:Scottish writers Category:People from Edinburgh Category:1813 births Category:1865 deaths Category:People associated with Orkney Category:People associated with Shetland Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Edinburgh Academical Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Burials at the Dean Cemetery Category:Members of the Faculty of Advocates Category:Scottish judges Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh Category:Scottish solicitors Category:Scottish translators Category:19th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets Category:Scottish academics Category:Scottish lawyers